The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
The age of information is upon us. Never before in the history of mankind has there been so much information so readily available. Networked computers have enabled organizations to collect and link vast amounts of information. The information can include data on customers, competitors, products, sales opportunities, employees, partners, issues, meetings, and much more. People can spend a good portion of the day wading and clicking through pages and pages of a website in order find what they are looking for. In some cases, the desired information may be buried deep within the website or application.
This can be very inefficient and frustrating especially when the user frequently accesses the information. People have differing information needs. For example, the information a salesperson may want to immediately access may be different from the information an account manager may want to immediately access. The information one wishes to immediately access may vary depending upon the context. Crowding the screen with information is not an adequate solution because it makes it difficult to identify the desired piece of information. Dividing the information onto various subpages or sublevels is not an adequate solution because while some users will have easy access to information, others will not. Rather, these users will have to drill deep into the application to retrieve the desired information.
Therefore, there is a need for improved systems and techniques for facilitating access to relevant information.